About Gary Expertise Will attempt to answer any question on respiratory disease, but please don`t ask me to make a diagnosis. Although I`ve worked as a respiratory specialist nurse in the UK for 6 years, I know nothing about the health systems of other countries. I have a particular interest in asthma, COPD, spirometry, and tuberculosis.
Question WHAT IS "NON SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER"? IS IT CURABLE? DID ANYBODY WITH THE ABOVE DISEASE HAD SURVIVED?
Answer Hi Harikrishna
I'm not sure I'll be able to answer your question fully. Lung cancers are a very specialist area and it's an area that I have very limited knowledge and experience in. However, here's my take on it:
Lung cancers are often categorised in 2 ways:
1: small cell lung cancers (SCLC)
2: non small cell lung cancers (NSCLC)
Unfortunately, this isn't very helpful to most people because it is meaningless. So I would recommend that if you have been told this by your doctor, you go back to them and discuss this in detail.
It's basically a pathological differentiation between the types of cancer (in other words it describes the kinds of cells that are involved). So what this means in practice is that the doctors have a better idea of how the cancer may progress, and how it may respond to different therapies. For example, some NSCLC can be surgically removed, whereas many SCLC respond well to chemotherapy. Radiotherapy also has a role to play and is used to varying extents depending on if the cancer is a SCLC or a NSCLC. However, there are many different clinical trials taking place that aim to assess the effectiveness of different therapies in both SCLC and NSCLC so, again, speaking to the doctor is important.
I know of many patients that are living very happy and active lives many years after being treated for NSCLC.
This is the limit of my knowledge of the subject I'm afraid and, since it is a very specialised area of medicine, I would suggest trying another expert (if there is one) or speaking to a specialist in this field directly.
